BC Liberal MPs bracing for constituents after Kinder Morgan pipeline approval

He says the pipeline is a direct threat to Vancouver’s economy and environment, and he will continue to fight against the completion of the project.

The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion is a C$6.8 billion, 1,150-kilometer (715-mile) project that would almost triple the capacity of an existing pipeline between Alberta and Vancouver to 890,000 barrels per day.

“Yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his decision to reject Northern Gateway and approve the Kinder Morgan Expansion project”.

Trudeau also shelved the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline across northwestern B.C. and said legislation banning tankers on B.C.’s northwest Pacific coast is coming soon.

In B.C. Wednesday, Premier Christy Clark said Ottawa is close to meeting her government’s five conditions for its approval of the pipeline, but she wants more assurances on spill response, jobs and economic benefits for her province.

Earlier this month, Trudeau announced a $1.5-billion ocean-protection plan.

“We will devote all of that to areas of environmental protection that aren’t now being funded, that are in the areas of provincial responsibility… What I say to them is this: Our number one and unwavering priority is the safety of our communities, the safety of my staff, our neighbours and the environment, and we will not compromise that under any circumstance”, president Ian Anderson said during a press conference on Wednesday.

And he said Clark should be more careful in her claim that the project has addressed Aboriginal and treaty rights.

She said she was confident the conditions could be met before the May 9, 2017 provincial election.

The company says the $5bn U.S. project is necessary to transport oil from the Alberta tar sands to markets beyond the United States, with a particular focus on Asia. The City of Vancouver is among several interveners who have filed court challenges of the recommendation, arguing the process was flawed.

On Tuesday, Charlene Aleck, a spokeswoman for the First Nation, accused Trudeau of breaking his promise of a “renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples”.

“They are making a big mistake”.

Despite Ottawa’s rubber stamp, stiff opposition will come from B.C. over the TransMountain pipeline.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan told Global News he is “disappointed and depressed” about the approval.

Carleen Thomas, a member of the Tsleil-Waututh, spoke Tuesday night at a rally against the government’s decision in Vancouver. “So I think that’s the next battle for the many First Nations that live along the Fraser River”.

Should the smaller Kinder Morgan project ever go ahead – there’s no guarantee, given the nature of the project, the legal uncertainties and the popular opposition around it – the expanded pipeline would triple the volume of Alberta bitumen to a Burnaby refinery and tidewater terminal.

But green groups say Trudeau’s decision to back the pair of projects – which are valued at C$11.8 billion – runs counter to his claims that the world needs to move away from fossil fuels.

The Line 3 project seems to raise less concern among environmentalists and First Nations, perhaps because it is in fact a project for the replacement of an existing pipeline, effectively reducing the risk of spills.